Students, faculty and staff members from Vaughn College were in attendance at the 2012 C3 Summit held in New York on September 13-14. The event, designed to examine all aspects of the Mid East business and financial opportunities, attracted many leaders from Arab states who joined their counterparts in the U.S. and abroad at New York’s Museum of Natural History auditorium. Bermuda’s Premier Paula A. Cox, JP, MP, Co-Chaired the event and made the introductory remarks to President Bill Clinton’s keynote speech.

Business leaders, policy makers, educators and civil society members joined the Summit to uncover and promote both U.S. and Arab world initiatives focused on economic, cultural and social enterprises. Conference organizers noted that the Summit comes at a time of great change in the Middle East, and will affect the ways in which the West will do business with these fast emerging and critical markets.

During his address, President Clinton highlighted the connection between global warming and the need for alternate energy development, pointing out that the Middle East and North Africa have abundant wind and solar resources in addition to oil, which could be very important to the development and sustainability of US, Arab and world-wide economies.

“This was an unique educational opportunity for Vaughn students to come together and hear about real world issues from leaders looking to advance the future together,” said Dr. Maxine Lubner, chair of the aviation and management departments. “Students were on hand to meet President Clinton and learn about the conference tenets — Community, Collaboration and Commerce – highly applicable to educational as well as business pursuits.”

President Clinton was followed by an outstanding group of speakers, including: Apple CEO Tim Cook, and His Excellency Abdullah A. Zainel Alireza, former Minister of Commerce and Industry of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, who offered practical advice on how others can succeed in growing their own business in the fast emerging Middle East markets.

Conference attendance was made possible by adjunct professor Mr. Myles M. Matthews, President and CEO of the Global Trade & Technology Center, who currently teaches economics at Vaughn including an elective course on Export and Import Policies and Practices.

“This is just another example of how Vaughn professors bring real world experience to students to prepare them for their future in a global economy,” said Dr. Sharon B. DeVivo, senior vice president.